The Voice Inside Your Head
by Halyard
Summary: Everyone has a voice in their head. No, I'm not talking about their conscience; I'm attempting to broach a slightly larger concept. Allow me to clarify, everyone has someone else's voice inside their head. And that voice is their soul mate's. Soulmate AU from Annabeth's point of view. One-Shot. Rated T for mentions of past abuse.


Everyone has a voice in their head. No, I'm not talking about their conscience; I'm attempting to broach a slightly larger concept. Allow me to clarify, everyone has someone else's voice inside their head. The song that's been stuck in your head all week even though you hadn't heard it in years? Someone is singing in their shower. The voice is telling you that you need to finish your homework? Someone is telling themself the same thing. The connection isn't constant and one could still think for oneself, but that voice you recognize from your mind has never said a word to you in real life. Until you meet them, of course. Then, one can finally find out who their soulmate is.

I was extremely lucky when it came to the voice inside my head. Their voice was so warm and almost always cheerful, well, most of the time. Their voice also had a helplessness to it at times. Yet it still gave me comfort while I was trying to fall asleep, but the spiders kept crawling closer. It told me that I deserved better than being ostracized from my own family, and it indirectly led to my escape from my horrendous step-mother and the introduction to my first real family, Luke and Thalia. It helped me get through losing Thalia to that Cyclops, as well as how it kept me company through the many nights spent in the nearly empty Cabin 6 throughout the school year. The voice had helped me so much, even though I never told it the exact reason behind my emotions.

The only unlucky thing about the voice in my head was how the owner of the voice would occasionally lose their normally cheery tone. It wasn't unlucky according to my sake, though. Their voice would crack during those times while I asked if they were alright, answering with a too quick, "I'm fine." I would try to question them further, only to find myself alone in my mind or a subject change attempting to divert my attention. The voice had comforted me in my worst moments, but I couldn't figure out a way to return the favor. Then, one day the voice went silent and after trying and trying, I never heard from it again.

Years passed, and I forgot exactly what the voice had sounded like, but the memory of the sadness it had contained never left my mind.

I had decided that once I had met the owner of the voice (If I ever did) I would get to the bottom of the melancholy I heard in their voice when movement from the injured boy suddenly gathered my attention. Chiron had tasked me with taking care of him once he had stumbled down Thalia's hill. He might just be the one the Great Prophecy refers to.

He opeed his eyes and I asked about what would happen at the summer solstice. His response was expected, but the voice that had answered, "What?" had sounded strangely familiar.

Percy Jackson's voice continued to haunt me for years; I never figured out why it seemed so familiar. We went on quests and saved the world (multiple times, thank you very much), but in the end Luke had sacrificed himself to save Olympus and I fell back to the grief I felt the day Thalia had turned into a tree, leaving Luke and I.

Then I heard the voice in my head again, after all these years. It said, "I'm sorry, Annabeth." The strangest thing about the whole event was that I could have sworn I heard it echoed out loud, as well. I turned to where I thought the voice was coming from to see Percy. Percy, whose voice was the same as the one in my head. Percy, whose voice seemed so familiar even when we had just met for the first time. Percy, whose voice held the same scratchy quality as the one in my head when he thought he would never see his mother again, when Bianca and Zoe died, after returning from his mission with Beckendorf head hanging low, when he thought I had died from sacrificing myself to save him, during the war when he figured out Silena, the spy, had died saving Olympus, and now, after the final sacrifice had been made. Percy, whose voice had led me to my family, and led that same family to victory against Kronos.

"Percy?" I ask, both in my mind and out loud.

"Yes?" he answers, his voice echoing in my mind.

While we were dating Percy finally opened up to me, and provided an explanation for the years of silence between us. Sadly, I figured out that the warmth, as well as the sadness in his voice from all those years ago was due to the similarities in our situation. Where I had been outcast by my step-mother, he had been physically and mentally abused by his step-father to save his mother from Gabe's drunken wrath. He had been called worthless and beaten while Sally had been working triple shifts at the candy shop and Gabe had come home drunk. Percy's voice was warm because he understood how I had felt, and it was sad because he had given up hope just like I had during the early years of my life spent with spiders and step-mothers.

From that day on, we often talked inside our minds and out. Percy's voice was warm and cheerful, and never again cracked from sadness.

I would like to say that was how it ended. Happily ever after. But after a few short months, Percy's voice went silent again. I searched everywhere for him. I tried everything I could think of, but he was still missing. I tried to speak to him every day, but I was slowly losing hope. Every day turned into every other which turned into every week to every month, when finally I gave up. It had been nine months since his disappearance, and I'd heard nothing. I was about to go to sleep when I heard Percy's voice quietly ask, "Why doesn't she talk to me in my dreams anymore? Why was her voice always so sad?"

"Percy?" I ask, knowing the most likely answer. I'm imagining his voice.

"Dream voice? Are you alright?" he asks, and my heart stops. He doesn't know it's me. I'm just a voice in his head, and yet he still comforts me just like all those years ago when the spiders kept crawling all over my bedroom.

"It's Annabeth. You don't remember me, but we've known each other for a long time."

"I won't forget you again, I promise," he said.

 **Author's Note: Hello, I'm finally back after many failed attempts at writing stories, and due to procrastination, this story was born. I believe that I will be leaving this as a one shot, but I may consider posting a sequel if this story gets a good response.**


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